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Shard Colors


Moogle

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I am interested in compiling a list of Shard colors! It is inspired by Miles' final words talking about the bearers of the final metal being red and gold, which could mean a new Shard coming to Scadrial. If I'm missing anything, let me know:

  • White for Preservation
  • Black for Ruin
  • Blue for Devotion
  • Red for Dominion
  • Black/violet for either Honor, Odium, or Cultivation (from the black sphere Gavilar had). I'd honestly guess Cultivation, since she's the 'Nightwatcher', but night is referred to in the series so many times as evil that it may as well be Odium. The back cover of TWOK has violet for Cultivation if that's who's on the Voidbinding (?) chart.

Unknowns: Endowment, Honor, Odium, Cultivation.

 

Not all Shards have a color necessarily, but quite a few do.

Edited by Moogle
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This quote might be of use:

 

 

Q: Ruin and Preservation were often represented in the Mistborn trilogy in terms of black and white. Is this imagery limited to that series, or do other Shards also have an associated hue?

 

A: This (Ruin & Preservation's colors) was because of the specific world and their perception of the world and themselves. Essentially, because of the dynamics of the interplay between Ruin and Preservation, they "chose" to view themselves as black and white respectively, so that's how they were represented. Also, because the only two Shards on Scadrial, and their natures were opposites, after the long period of time they spent on the same planet, they kind of "polarized." If similar thing happened on another world, similar coloring effect could happen.

 

(source)

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Thanks, Weiry. That doesn't quite explain why Devotion's Shardpool in Elantris (if it was Devotion's?) was crystalline blue. You'd expect the color of each Shardpool to mirror the hue of the Shard in question. I think that that WoB could be feasibly interpreted to say that Shards can alter their hues if they are brought up against other Shards who are opposite them in Intent, not necessarily that all Shards don't have a hue, but I admit it's stretching it heavily.

Edited by Moogle
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Your entire theory is based upon the premise that Shards do, and have to, have colors, and there is no support for that theory.

 

There's even evidence against it. Perhaps I should amend my OP and say that I want to know the color of every Shardpool, since that would get closer to the heart of the matter. Some Shards take on colors, and I would certainly like a list of those.

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In my opinion, it was blue because colour is an attribute things have. The attribute it had was blue. Why? Why not? Symbolically, blue can represent purity, peace, calm, the sky, water, etc.

 

Okay, so those symbols work well with blue and make sense for Devotion. What are you thinking for Honor/Odium/Cultivation/Endowment?

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I think people might like this :)

 

THOUGHT

It seems that certain colors and numbers appear frequently in specific cosmere books, like the number 5 in Warbreaker or red and blue in Elantris. Do these colors or numbers happen to refer to a specific shard, and if so, would they be consistent across the cosmere?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Certain colors and numbers are important in reference to certain shards.

 

This basically confirms that shards in some sense have a colour.

Edited by AonarFaileas
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Well, it confirms that sometimes some colors are important. You COULD read that as saying that black and white referred to Ruin and Preservation. That might be all that is saying.

 

However Brandon does enjoy things being a bit deeper and I could see him attributing colors to some shards. It will be an interesting thing to look for. But it might not some up again. 

 

Also it would be tough to pick a color for endowment as he is the god of color to his people. He is like the rainbow shard.

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Also it would be tough to pick a color for endowment as he is the god of color to his people. He is like the rainbow shard.

 

Ah you barely beat me to it, Bean. I was going to say the same thing. Maybe Endowment is some like grey-brown from all the colors mixing together. Or... what colors are the Tears of Edgli?

 

I like the idea of Shards having a respective color, as it seems to work in Mistborn and numbers have such an important significance. However, I don't think there's much to stand on right now.

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Sure. I did a quick search on Theoryland and found it here.

 

As to some of the colours that other Shards might be, I've always figured that the colour of Roshar's three moons might be significant. Green for Cultivation (it just makes sense), dark purple for Odium (it makes more sense than blue), and blue for Honour, seeing how its the only one left.

 

I would assume that if this is right that Honour's blue must be different from Devotion's, but neither colour has really been described in enough detail to say how.

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Sure. I did a quick search on Theoryland and found it here.

As to some of the colours that other Shards might be, I've always figured that the colour of Roshar's three moons might be significant. Green for Cultivation (it just makes sense), dark purple for Odium (it makes more sense than blue), and blue for Honour, seeing how its the only one left.

I would assume that if this is right that Honour's blue must be different from Devotion's, but neither colour has really been described in enough detail to say how.

Colours are symbolic motifs - they may be associated to make magic flashy, foreshadow, etc. but I don't think that their colour is a defining characteristic - more like, say, a character who always wears a certain colour. The Joker, for example - he wears purple clothes, but this is just an accent to his character rather than a defining focus of it.
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